Three patients who developed unilateral ptosis followed by partial third nerve palsy were found to have a pituitary tumour. The visual field defects were minimal and asymptomatic. Two patients had a chromophobe adenoma and one patient had a prolactinoma. The importance of recognising a pituitary tumour as the cause of acquired unilateral ptosis is emphasised.

The development of myogenic cells is mainly determined by expression of two myogenic factors, Myf5 and Myod1 (MyoD), which genetically compensate for each other during embryogenesis. Here, we demonstrate by conditional cell ablation in mice that Myf5 determines a distinct myogenic cell population, which also contains some Myod1-positive cells. Ablation of this lineage uncovers the presence of a...

Hutchinson (1897) described a disorder in which ptosis was associated with paralysis of the other extraocular muscles to which he gave the name "external ophthalmoplegia". Fuchs (I890) reported five patients with ptosis, in two of whom the disorder was familial, and Dutil (I892) and Delord (I903) published two other cases of an unusual familial form of dysphagia associated with ptosis. The prev...